I typically roll out of bed rather reluctantly. I am reluctant not because I don’t enjoy all of the blessings that God has given me. I am reluctant because I am not sure how many different “Hat’s” will be required of me on that particular day. Before I even move in the morning, things are in motion that will begin to dictate who I will start the day as. I often times start off angry at myself for not waking up in time to say goodbye to one of my older kids as they rush off to a early morning practice before school. I may start off confused by the amount of urgency already going on around me as up to 5 kids may be gathering different “hats” for their day. Thank God my wife is great in the morning (pretty great all day) and can survive on 4 to 6 hours sleep.

To those of you who have known me since I was a wee one, I am “Tony the Skater”. This is the easiest hat for me to wear because I have worn it the longest. I grew up in a house connected to a skating rink. My parents certainly loved and taught me (they put the house next to work so they could be around me more) but I was also largely raised by the other families and kids at the roller rink. A number of people know me as the little kid who during public skating always amazed with my crazy skating. Some know me as the figure skater that my mom wanted me to be and started me out as. A vast number of you know me (or me as my brother) for the international awards I won as a speed skater representing our city, state and even country on my way to numerous wonderful blessings. Many families inDes Moinesknow me as the guy who ran the roller skating rink that they spent their weekends at. Today I put myself back as the skater as numerous people have watched me playing on my men’s roller derby team YMMD.

To the people that help me feed my family I am “Tony the Broker/ Realtor. This is the hardest yet most important economical hat for me to convince people that I wear (it is hard to break people of Tony the Skater). I go in to the office every morning and although I do not clock in or out, I stay at it all day as if I did. I began by working for a builder doing marketing, hiring and training sales staff but when the market took a bad turn, I was forced to fend for myself. Today, my family survives by what ever I can do on a day to day basis selling homes. I am very fortunate that God made me competitive because in today’s market…it is not easy in real estate. Fortunately for me, I have built a number of relationships in Des Moines and the vast part of what I have to do daily, is to let people know that I sell homes for a profession…not race around the world on wheels anymore(I am a bit aged for that now). This may be a bit obvious but if you know someone who is buying or selling a home now or in the near future…….I am just suggesting.

The most important and least prepared for hat I must wear is the “Tony the Husband/ Father”. I am just going to say it. Most successful athletes are pretty selfish. We almost have to be in order to dedicate as much time and resources needed to achieve that level of success. I was no different. Being blessed as an athletic kid whose parents had a bit of resources that could help me go places, I was able to spend a lot of time on me. With my career as an athlete, I was not looking for anything else but God knew I needed it and so in the middle of my success he introduced me to the best prize I ever got; my future wife Cassandra. It was not long before we were married (sharing our stuff) and starting a family. Five fantastic gifts later (Gabrielle, Rachel,Antony, Ellasandra andSofia) I am still trying to figure out how to be a responsible person  and take care of myself, let alone take care of the six most important things to me in this world. As a parent we all want more for our kids then anything we ever had but my kids have already surpassed anything I could have ever expected of them. I try and love on them (they have learned to hate kisses), I try and spend quality time with them (I love that they still enjoy me) and I try and support and enable them to achieve what ever they want to accomplish (I have coach’s licenses in just about every sport imaginable). My relationship with my kids should come after my relationship with my wife. If you know my wife, you know that I should treat her like a queen as she married down when she said yes to me. She is an amazing supporter of my endeavors and a great mom to our children. At the end of the day I know our time gets cheated the most as I somehow convince myself that time spent at work or on the kids is really time spent on her…..and so really, I miss out on her. I would like to wear this hat more often and I tell myself that if I work hard enough that it will allow me to do so in the future. I hope that this is not just a lie of our culture.

I know my primary calling is to always wear “Tony the Child of God” hat, but I don’t put this one on enough. One of my favorite quotes is by St. Francis ofAssisi; it says something like “preach the Bible continually, use words when necessary”. It would be incredible if people said that reminded them of how I live but I am not convinced that would be the case. I would hope that my relationship with God and my understanding of his desire for my life would be a solid reminder to put this hat on first, however I substitute this hat for my “Child of the World” hat all too often. I find the Worldly hat is easier to wear.  People don’t stare at me as much, judge me as much and watch what I am doing or see how I might react as much when I wear my Worldly hat. I feel like if I woke up with this “Child of God” hat on and put all others on top of it (in addition) the rest would be so much easier. I go to church (but am I there?), I am involved in a small group (but am I fully engaged?) and I own a bible (isn’t that enough?). That is not close to the amount of time or resources I am spending on the “Worldly” hat weekly. What does that say about me that I, someone who had numerous people look up to me for my athletics, someone who is trusted with 5 children of my own, someone who coaches hundreds of kids at various sports, can’t be disciplined enough to put on the right hat or in the correct order? In retrospect, it is amazing the expectations I have put on others when I can see my own lack of discipline in this area. I give you permission to challenge me on this when you see this hat missing from my head.

I have lots of other hats that come with me every day. I am still “Tony the Son” to my fantastic parents, “Tony the Brother” to my great siblings. “Tony the Friend” to a great number of people who help me get through each day with my head up. “Tony the Coach” to hundreds of speed skaters, hockey players, derby guys and girls, football players, soccer players, basketball players and local gym spinners. I thought my life was going to change as “Tony the Entrepreneur” with my start up company www.VineMe.com but it is never that easy. As my body grows stiffer I am sometimes “Tony the Bike Racer” as I have found decent success on two wheels. There is the vain me as “Tony the Actor” with bit parts in commercials and shows.

 As the days go by, I acquire more hats and less knowledge or instruction in how to wear them. I am sure that my story is not unique. It is what happens to us when we grow up and try and take on responsibility. We think we can handle things. We are too proud to admit we may not have the time or resources. We may be nice too say no or too afraid that if we miss this opportunity we may never get another chance like it. Maybe individually we could handle each issue with ease, maybe even a couple. Then we pile on and leave no room in the margins for mistakes or problems. No room for the relationships that may need extra attention or the events that needs more care. This is why for me; I am going to organize my hats better. Decide which hats are the most important for me. Decide which hats fit me the best and which weigh me down the most. Hats will be thrown out and hats will be re-employed. I know it is a little late for resolutions but this is mine anyway. I am and will always be the same Tony. Hopefully, I will be a little more in tuned and focused on you the next time we meet as I should have a clearer knowledge of who I am and what I am about.

Tim Tebow comes up often in my house as my son is an aspiring quarterback and my teenage daughters are…well teenage daughters and so he comes up a fair bit. To give full disclosure, I was lucky enough to pick him up on both of my fantasy football teams and I have been riding his on field success towards my own fantasy football playoffs. There is no doubt that he is one of the most polarizing athletes of our time. People either love him or hate him and nearly everyone is willing to share their thoughts, so I thought I would share mine. I think that what Tim Tebow is doing for sports is amazing. He is 7 and 1 so far as a starter and he and the Broncos have won 6 in a row (here come Tom Brady and the Patriots). His touchdown to turnover ratio is one of the tops in the NFL for Quarterbacks and he scores on the ground and through the air. My whole family is more engaged in pro football because of him so I think he is doing exactly what they are paying him to do. On the field he is doing what all of us do in our everyday lives…he is trying to mitigate his weaknesses and focus on his strengths. Off the field, he is acting even more like an everyday person. He is talking about the things that are most important in his life and avoiding the things that would put him in danger.

He appears to me to be a highly intense athlete, not the kind of timid athlete we might expect out of an out spoken Christian. I remember a number of years ago a magazine called “Inline Skater” wrote an article about how it was humorous that I would wear t-shirts glorifying God and then go out on the track and race like the devil (or as they put it, Black Sabbath). Had I not worn those t-shirts I would have never gotten that kind of push back, they would have just called me a good aggressive racer. God calls us to go “boldly” in his name (Hebrews 13:6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me). If the biggest thing that bothers us about Tim Tebow is his outspoken faith then we have the problem, not him. I see people giving praise and glory to their shoes (Nike), to family (Hey Mom), to resorts (Disney World) but we can’t handle him giving a shout out to what he finds important (his Savior). We may like Adidas instead of Nike, Dad more then Mom or Sea World over Disney but we don’t get all upset about the shout out, we agree that we have different view points and move on. That is unless the forbidden G or J words are spoken.  They are not to be referenced in public. If we don’t think someone’s shoes make them run faster or their drink makes them better hydrated that is fine that our views differ, but we can’t accept that we may have different views on how that person’s faith may affect their performance. That should never be discussed.

Let me tell you my personal story about athletic performance. On a beautiful day in Francemany years ago, my wife had slipped a DC Talk (Free At Last) cassette into my walkman (yes that long ago) before the World Championship. I was the 3^rd ranked American sprinter at the time based on our National Championships and I had just come from getting beaten badly at Downers Grove. As I warmed up with that music (here comes the uncomfortable part for you) I realized that what happened next didn’t matter. I was living for eternity and based on my faith in God I was safe in His grace. The freedom that came over me was nearly indescribable and crazy at the same time. When I went to the line to skate I was bound by nothing and free to just be me as the big picture was now clear. I went on that day to not only win the World Championship, but I won the 300 meter by nearly a half second (typically won by hundredths of seconds). I also set a new World Record as I became the fastest man on inline skates in history. Does that make you like me less or feel weird because I just told you that God helped me to be the best athlete that I could be that day?

Here is the question, does God choose Tim Tebow to win or does Tim Tebow’s faith in God allow him more freedom to compete to his highest level. In my opinion, God did not choose me to win in France or favor me to break a World Record. The freedom I found in his grace just allowed for me to compete at my highest level just as it would have for anyone who was able to free themselves up from anything that was binding them. Those Nike’s are available to everyone as is the Gatorade. We all know that sometimes if we do not have on the right product (shoes, wheels, or swim suit) we may lose and if we don’t eat or drink wisely we may be at a disadvantage because of it. The shoes or the drink did not choose us…we chose them and that is what I think is happening with Tebow. He is not being chosen to win; he has chosen to allow himself to compete at a higher level based on his faith in a higher calling. We all have freedom to make choices across the board and I am not sure why when people tell us they make this one, it makes others so uncomfortable.  

One of my great teammates in speed skating, Chad Hedrick, reminds me a lot of Tim Tebow. It is kind of funny because if you know Chad today, you would know that he is a very outspoken Christian who praises God to all that would listen. That hasn’t always been the case but it makes Chad’s story even more appealing to me. Chad as a competitor was like Tebow in the sense that he had an incredible ability to win. He would put the entire team on his shoulders if that is what it took to win and his confidence that he could and would win was way off the charts. He would get in your face, he would make bold statements and he would take accountability. Check Chad’s statistics if you want to know how the fourth quarter went for him. If the outspoken Christian Chad of today merged with the younger athlete Chad of yesterday, we would be having the same discussions about Chad that we are having about Tim Tebow. I can almost assure you (I have not talked to him about it) that even as a huge Texans fan, what Tebow is doing resonates in a very positive way with Chad.

As for the ideas that his mechanics aren’t good enough let me ask you this. Have you ever noticed the difference between the way I skate and the way my brother Dante skates? We are not even close technically as his skating is flawless. Yet I found a way in spite of my flaws to find some success. How about the idea that he is too one dimensional and so he will not make it in the NFL. I counter with this. All but one of my World titles was from 1500 meters or less (My first was 10k but Bobby and Donnie did all of the work and I was too young to know how tired I was). My brother was the master of long distance and really could win any race he stepped on the line for. He was strong, lean and full of endurance but also quick, fast and fearless. Today I still compete at a super high level  (mostly marathons) and I have been doing it since 1985. This is not any knock against Dante who stopped nearly a dozen years ago but if there was anybody in our sport who was one dimensional it was me. My only goal was to sprint because I was not very efficient, yet I am still here. Another interesting thing about Tim Tebow is that in spite of his victories and strengths, all who are around him say he is continually trying to improve and spending hours trying to become the technical player we expect our NFL quarterbacks to be.

Will he make it long term? As a quarterback, maybe. As a football player, probably. As someone that I would want my kids to look up to, for sure.

 

The Price to Play

 I refuse to accept that my body is starting to fall apart on me. As a human we all like to think of ourselves at that “favorite” age or moment in time when our body was at it’s fittest point….sometime in the early twenty’s I am guessing for most. As an athlete, especially those who have been to the mountain top, our expectation for our bodies are even greater then that. We think that we are forever invincible or at the least still in the prime athletic moment of our life…just an opportunity away from being back in the show. I like to tell myself (and anyone who will listen to this aging kid) that if I just had more time….I could still be “that guy”.  Maybe I kind of believe it when it comes out of my mouth just because I have said it so much that I had to learn to act the part, but in reality, I know it is nowhere near the truth anymore. In the real world, I hope to not gain attention by the limp in my step or bend in my back when I am out showing houses to clients.

2011 Duluth Finish

I still am fairly athletically smart and certainly mentally capable of competing at all levels of competition. I suppose the credit for that goes to my wife for still letting me act like a little boy and to my parents for letting me think I could achieve what ever I wanted. My desire to win certainly has not shrunk…just ask anybody who still trains with me. I do not eat all that well but compared to the Tony Muse who once held World titles I am a top notch health nut. I like to blame added responsibility as the main factor in not being the same athlete as I once was but seriously, God has blessed me with a wife and children that take care of me way more then I have to take care of them. My faith in God and the power which I understand I have in him is way stronger then it was in my peak years. So all things considered, I should be CaptainAmerica, right?

David and I in Chicago

Roller derby is probably the lone sport that I still do which makes no sense to my body. It is like everything I ever did all wrapped up into one big accident waiting to happen. As the jammer, I am constantly getting hit on either or both sides of my body. I am tripping or falling a handful of times a game. I am getting elbowed and kicked both on accident and on purpose. I have to sprint, stop, jump and the turn and sprint again…all of the time. Yet I can’t wait for the next practice or even greater, the next game. The reasons I can overcome the dangers are numerous. I love being on a team because going to battle together is priceless. I love feeling important again as even after all these years, only a few people can do what I can on quad roller skates. I like the hitting (but I like it better when I can dance around it) and I love the adrenaline that I get when the game is on the line and my team is relying on me. My family knows the price my body pays and I think that is why they don’t really embrace me playing it. They argue that I am a good bike racer and I still win a few inline races a year…stick to those. Don’t get me wrong, my participation in those sports is not up for debate and I love them as well, I just have the bug for derby right now in a passionate way.

Family

At the end of the day, if I have to be dishonest to myself about the condition of my body in order to keep showing up on the line, I think I can forgive myself for that.

Get Race Ready; Get on the Pain Train

The inline skating community is an amazing group of people. It is a great mix of all kinds of skaters. Some of us grew up on roller skates and just can’t stop skating. Some like the health benefits they get from such a low impact form of exercise. Some found this little niche sport some time ago and went from early adapters to die hard fanatics. Some like to dance, some like to do tricks and some just like to go as fast as they can at anything they do. The one thing we have in common is our love and passion for the sport. When I am teaching or hanging out at the events, I get to encounter skaters from all of the different aspect. The most common concern I hear from people is they wonder why they feel great and can skate for hours at home but they have trouble trying to translate that into being able to be competitive and comfortable in the races.

The problem with loads of us is that our love of skating may just be the thing holding us back. Because we love to skate, often we will just go out and skate just because we can. We think we knocked off 2 hours or 15miles of hard work. That is great for base training and for mental relaxation, but not beneficial when the pace changes in your next marathon. What we need to do to be competitive in races, is to have at least a few practices a week that are focused on exercises that will have us ready for the things we will encounter on race day. Following are a few of my favorite drills that I do when I set out to be race ready. I try and focus on different aspects on different days and I never want to be comfortable in these sessions. The fun time comes either by punishing those at practice with me, punishing others on race day, besting my fastest times set at previous races or on my rest day when I go skate around the lake at a relaxed pace. These drills (and others you can come up with) can be done alone or with others but remember that you can only rely on yourself on race day.

1. Straightaway Blast

Find a spot with a long smooth straight away and pretend it is the finish stretch. I like to do 10 all out blast where I go from slow speed to all out as quick as I can and carry that speed to the finish. I have the luxury of a 400 meter track to train on so I will sprint one straight every other lap. I want them to be all out so it requires rest between.

       2. Corner Blast

Find a good smooth corner without flaws that can be taken at high speeds and with only crossovers. I do the same thing here only with crossovers. I start with a  slow speed and then a quick acceleration all of the way through my estimated 100 meters. This again is easier for me on my 400 meter track as I can do the same corner every other lap.

       3. 20/10s

Find a place where people, roads and traffic will not affect you for at least 5 minutes as you will require no interruptions. Get warmed up and then go all out for 20 seconds (all is all…hold nothing back) then take 10 seconds to rest in between. The drill requires a minimum of 8 20/10s (yes in a row) but it is good to work to 10 of them. If you truly go all out and you do a minimum of 10, I promise you will see a huge increase in your endurance and in your speed.

       4. Mile Repeats

Find a place where you can skate for 1 mile with out concern for roads, traffic or other obstacles. You will need to have this area for a fair amount of time. Get on the line, put your finger on your watch and go as fast as you can for 1 mile. When you are finished, right down the time and take a while (what you need) to recover. When ready to go again, repeat the exercise…..until you have done 4 of them. I use a 400 meter track for this so I am able to record all 4 laps of each drill (and also gauge myself) so that I can see how my progression is working.

       5. 100/200/300/400

This one is pretty self explanatory. Sprint 100 meters 4 times with a 2 to 1 rest time (100 meters takes 10 seconds, rest 20 seconds), Sprint 200 meters 3 times with 2 to 1 rest, Sprint 300 meters 2 times with 2 to 1 rest and then sprint 400 meters…..no go back down the ladder in reverse order. I have worked my way through this drill many times just going up and back. Some of the great distance skaters (Jorge and Diego) will go through this drill 2 or 3 times before they will be finished. I was born a sprinter so…..

       6. Gut check drill

You don’t want to know…..

Good luck with these. Be careful as you begin these as the intervals will take time to get use to. Remember to use good technique as that trumps fitness most of the time. Lastly, please do not use the fitness you have gained in these drills against me by attacking me in the races….my kids think I am cool when I win so…..

Tony Muse Speed Skating Clinic

We all look for ourselves first when we are looking at photos. We hope it is a good picture of ourselves (with a bit of disregard for others in the photo) and we kind of want everyone to see us in the shot. I am not saying we always like the way we look, often times we are embarrassed by what ever moment that the picture caught us. It could be because of the face we were making or because of the hair style you had at the time of the photo. It could be because of the clothes you were wearing …..Or not wearing. We hope it is not because of what we were doing when the photos were taken that embarrasses (or incriminates) us. We just like to find ourselves in pictures. I am not sure when or where we pick this trait up but when looking through shoeboxes with my children; they all have already acquired it.

The sad thing about the photos in my shoeboxes is that the majority of the people in the boxes…in the photos….don’t even know they are in there. Through a fairly well travelled and well blessed life, I have met thousands of people. I hope that I remember most of them and it would be even better if I still were in contact with most of them but the truth is that I really don’t remember all of the people and I have lost track of many. It is sad because as I go back through the images, I am reminded of the fun times, the memories and even some of the life lessons I have gained from certain encounters. I am sad that I forgot some people and even more upset that I wouldn’t know how to find them if I tried.

The desire to reconnect and the desire to openly share with these lost people was one of the key ingredients to my desire to create www.VineMe.com. I believe that if people could at least remember a place, a time frame, an event, a thing or of course a person, they would be able to search and find or share all the images stored in people’s closets. Imagine all of the events that you wish you brought a camera, someone probably did. Think about how many moments have been captured by others, you saw or heard the camera, that you wish you could see and share. It is not a pretty site but imagine how many races I showed up to in spandex with nowhere to put a camera that someone else probably caught on film for me. I want to see those photos and I want to have access to those photos. My story to my kids, my legacy, is best told through those photos.

Thousands of people are in my closet. I have started sharing by putting up Little League Baseball and Jr League Football action and team pictures up. Think about this, you did not even have to be on my team to end up in some of the images…you just had to be playing against us the day the camera was brought. I have begun loading my school photos with the entire class rosters, through 8 grades that is a few hundred people stepping out of my closet (by the way…nice hair). I have put up some race and travel pictures but really, I have not even begun to scratch the surface with regards to all of the images of my racing encounters.

You would not believe the number of young adults I found hanging out in my closet that I have had the opportunity to coach. I have been blessed with coaching hundreds of kids in roller hockey. I have coached tackle football for the last 5 years and girl’s soccer for another 4. I was even bold enough to take on coaching basketball this past winter. Through the years I have had the opportunity to work with loads of talented children and great families, many of them are just hanging out in my closet. I know that I smile when I see the images filled with memories, why would I want to be so selfish as to not let them have the same experience.

The low hanging fruit are the images in your computer or memory drive that you are selfishly letting collect dust or take up memory. This is the stuff you should put up now on www.VineMe.com. What does that mean and why should you do it if they are already on Facebook? You should put them up on www.Vineme.com  because we store them for free in high resolution. You should put them up on www.VineMe.com because you can search not just by people but by places, things, events and even time. You should put them up on www.VineMe.com because you do not have to be somebody’s friend in order to find pictures of a place, thing, event or time….you just have to remember it. Don’t filter the photos either like you would on Facebook. A bad photo to you could be a defining moment for someone else in the picture. Put them all up.

Once you load them on www.VineMe.com, make sure you tag the heck out of them. The tagging of the photos (down to all of the details) is what drives the opportunities for others. People may be searching beach, spring break, Marco Island, Florida, Surf Club …..We just don’t know what they will be looking for so we have to tag it all. The people you remember, tag. If you find photos that you recognize a missing tag (or 10), tag them yourself. I don’t remember the names of all of my classmates through the years or all of my teammates in little league but If I can get one and another can get one and so on…pretty soon we will have everyone tagged and people will be able to find the photo with ease. West Des Moines, Iowa, Little League Baseball, Holiday Park, White Sox, it is that easy.

That part is easy and I would expect all of you to take some time to do that today. I will check up on all of you so at least put something up. Now comes the harder but far more rewarding part. It is time to take off the lid on that shoebox or the cover on that photo album and start scanning those photos into your computer. It is time to let those people out of the closet. They are screaming to get out and they don’t even know they are in there. I am about to release 7 Olympic Medalist all of them before they knew how great they were. Maybe an Iowa legend or 2. One was an NFL MVP who was bagging groceries while going to my church, the other is maybe the greatest wrestler in history. A couple 90210 stars that my wife wanted pictures of for some reason. I will let out all of the people hanging out in my closet from China, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Mexico, Cuba and all of the other fantastic places I have gotten to visit over the years. Thousands of athletes I have either competed against or coached….they are coming out too. Even all of the spectators that came to watch for a reason…they are in the photos as well.

We all have photos like I am talking about. Some are on a photo sharing site. Some are in your hard drive somewhere. A large number of them are in some dark cupboard collecting dust and doing no one any good, including you. Do all of us a favor and let us out. We want to see the stories and events you have pictures of. Who knows who or what you might have captured. We are VineMe!

Game number four of the rookie season for the men’s derby squad out of Des Moines had us visiting the Gatekeepers of St Louis. The Gatekeepers are one of the top ranked derby teams in the country and probably the best team we have played. They have large front line players like “Wild Bill” who hit just for the sake of doing something and they have great jammers like “Bat Wing” who know how to use the holes that the big guys up front create. The Gatekeepers play like a well oiled machine, moving faster and slower and inside and outside as a group, never leaving much space to squeeze through for the opposing team. The building was nice and felt like home to us as it was a roller skating rink with a wood floor. The gatekeepers were generous enough to add us to the packed season they had scheduled and managed to find time for us on a Sunday afternoon.

Your Mom has learned a great deal in our young season and most of the lessons we learned were in our bout with the TC Terrors. We have a quality group of skaters but we are not great at skating as one. The rules of the game also were difficult in the beginning as we did not know how to use the rules to our advantage as the terrors did. I know that the TC Terror squad is not happy that they played us as they feel like we were not mature enough at the time to be playing at such a high capacity. They were probably right, we were too young. The benefit for us is that they did play us and we were given a crash course lessons by one of the best squads in the country on how to play the game. Thank you Terror and thank you Gatekeepers for allowing us in your circle and helping us to understand the game that you guys play so well.

Against the Gatekeepers, we played with a new strategy which I am not at liberty to share, but suffice it to say that it did not last long. Our two best players were in foul trouble early and had to minimize the time they spent on the floor. Two other players were injured by the pounding that the Gatekeepers gave us so they were unable to finish. We might have had a few other skater who were a bit overwhelmed by the intensity and strength which the Gatekeepers were playing with so they needed a little adjustment time. With those sorts of issues and a small roster at the event, we were playing in panic mode straight away. One huge addition to our squad is that my older brother and speed coach Mark Muse is part of our squad as our bench coach. He has an amazing eye for sports and a great deal of history with motivating people to succeed. In addition, after the Terror game, the team decided that I would be the new team coach going forward. I have been a student of the game in any sport I am involved so I have been breaking derby down for the past few months. Our team was able to utilize Mark and a bit of our wisdom in order to keep the game close enough that we would have a chance to win in the end. After saving up energy and penalties, Dante and Jason were able to jump back into the game at full speed and help lead us to a close victory.

In 60 minutes of game time there are hundreds of stories to tell but not enough time or creativity. Mostly, Dante is amazing on skates, going fast, in tight circles especially when you make him angry. Jason is the best blocker I have witnessed in the sport. He is physical with his hips and his timing is perfect for us when we are trying to get by. Our big guys up front (not so big) are getting better at playing as a unit and I look forward to seeing them grow together. Mark will learn the game and be as important as anyone on the floor to our success. As for me….I did get a couple of compliments on my attitude and patience from players and officials on the opposing team. That is the best improvement I could have made in my mind.

We are currently looking for games and have multiple places that we could host if you wanted to dance in Des Moines. We also are not against travelling but a few home games would be nice for our fans. Thanks for reading and feel free to email me any question or thoughts you may have about derby or the games.

The Birth of VineMe

VineMe began as a typical night in my home. My family faithfully shares family night once a week. As I was waiting for some of the family members to get ready, I sat on the couch in the living room trying to kill time. I reached into the cabinet and began looking at photos in one of 30 or so shoe boxes filled with envelopes. I was surprised by how many things in my life I did not remember. I shouted something over to my daughter in the kitchen about a photo from many years ago with someone who was now famous. She didn’t believe me and soon came over to take a look. She also was surprised by the past memories so she joined me on the couch checking out our picture collection. It wasn’t long until my next oldest daughter wanted to see what it was all about and then came the rest (We have 5 kids).  Soon, my wife, our 5 kids and I were in a circle looking through this old box of photos. We spent the rest of the evening being surprised, laughing and arguing on what was really happening in the photos. By the end of the night, we had not even gotten through that one shoe box.

A few days later I called my friend (future partner) Josh Fleming and I told him that I was stuck on this idea and wanted to run it by him. I envisioned this place where people could view all of their pictures on a line and they would be sorted by the date on the photo.  People would be able to see their life through all of the different images which would tell the history of what impacted them. Secondly, I envisioned a search tool which would allow people to find photos of them that were currently unknown. As a past professional athlete, there were many times in my life where I heard or saw numerous pictures being taken during an event and I would have no idea where those pictures existed. Surely those other people who were in the photos in my shoe box would have no idea about those pictures and would probably love to see them. By having people date and tag (people, places events or things) their photos, where ever that tag appears, it will be attached to a timeline. People all over the world will be creating and adding to each others timeline. Even if the person who took the photo did not know my name or tag me in it, I can search via a place or event and a time and then search for pictures of me.

 Josh was ecstatic and he was able to enhance those thoughts and come up with a number of other great ideas and structure for the site. In our world, everything could be put on a timeline. Josh took what began as a timeline and soon we became VineMe. Soon after, Josh used his resources to seek out a few other wise leaders in the community who fit the mission and the vision of VineMe.  Chris Taulborg became part of our team as creative and implementation and has completely blown us away. Ben Milne has brought tons of ideas and wisdom as a consultant to Vineme and will be up front in our future expansion. We are a team of ambitious Iowa boys who hope to add value to people’s lives and bring the world closer at the same time.

Now that we are live, Vineme will be driven by you the users, what content you choose to put up and how you tag it. You are the juice that keeps us alive. We have no idea what direction God will have us go with this but at the end of the day it is a pretty awesome tool. Now go vine something for us.  8 )

Your Mom Versus Cowtown Butchers

Game three of my young roller derby career took place on Saturday March 26^th at the 7 Flags Event center in Des Moines. Our first home game was played at the Iowa State Fairgrounds at the Jacobson Building and together with the Des Moines Derby Dames, We were able to sell out 2600 seats. The first Game was highly promoted throughout the area in all forms of media and nearly 1000 of those tickets went in a special groupon promotion. Our game this past week was done at the normal home for derby in a smaller arena and nearly zero marketing was done to promote it. We once again sold out the arena at over 1600 and over 200 people were turned away at the door before the first whistle. Wow, Derby is strong in Iowa. In our last bout the Dames followed Your Mom on the card and many people left after halftime of the second game as the game looked to be decided and the event was going on 6 hours. This time we flipped it and the Dames went first….and most of the people bailed at halftime for the exact same reasons. We are working on some solutions but it was still a whole lot of fun.

The Cowtown Butchers arrived in Des Moines a little beat up and short handed from their game the week before with Indianapolis. Because of injuries and fatigue, two of our players jumped over to the Butchers to give them some firepower. Your Mom was hungry to play as we learned a great deal about ourselves and the sport after our visit to St. Paul. The Terrors were a well organized squad and played strong from start to finish. We came home and implemented many of the drills we saw them doing and began working on tactics similar to those used by the Terrors. Add to that the fact that we had lost our last bout and were hungry for revenge and things didn’t bode well for the butchers.

We added two huge elements to our squad. One, we added hall of fame speed coach, MIR women’s Derby coach (and my brother), Mark Muse. Secondly, we added one of my best roller hockey teammates for many years (and my cousin) Mike McCoy to help us with some size up front. Mark does a great job keeping the team grounded and working together and Mike is an old ball and cane player from back in the day who is solid on his skates. Our officials have been doing a fair bit of training with the squad so they are getting in better shape, and we are learning of the many mistakes we had been making. Part of our new strategy has to do with substitution patterns and keeping fresh bodies on the floor. Normally my brother Dante (Tinkerbelle) is our first jammer but he asked for me to switch with him this game. I know you will find this hard to believe but it took me all of 10 seconds to find my way to the box for an immediate major penalty (guess I did not learn enough). I actually tripped on another skater skates and fell into the pack….not completely my fault but certainly worthy of a penalty.

The butchers gave a valiant fight throughout the evening but the organization and firepower that we had on that evening was way too much. Dante was beyond amazing going in and out, spinning at full speed to avoid hits and basically….just being Dante. Choose to argue with me if you want, and certainly he lacks many tools right now to be the best at roller derby, but in my opinion, he is the best roller skater I have ever watched in my life. Jason McDaniel (Seahorses) is the top blocker on our team and his experience and knowledge is only going to make us better and better. I can not imagine that there would be many teams in the country that he would not be the top jammer but that is what makes our team so unique. He is a top jammer but an even better blocker and so we can afford to use him as such. Mike McCoy (Mikey) owned the inside and front of the track and will continue to grow as a player with his size, skill and strength. He adds a physical element to our squad that will occupy many of the opposing team’s players. Our little jam skating kid Talynn jammed like a wiz and even jumped over packs of people on his way to numerous points. After the match, his age was put into question by the officials who couldn’t imagine our little Richie Cunningham was 19. Our newest member V.J. J, was a crowd favorite and in his lone jam to end the first half, he got the crowd rocking with a multi point jam with some swift moves. James and Chris, who valiantly played for the Butchers, were the big scorers for Cowtown and the toughest part of breaking through the pack for our jammers. I know they enjoyed it as James hit me more times than I can remember.

At the end of the night, the Dames had lost a close one to the OCCRG and Your Mom had added one more victory to our record. The crowd was amazing and the people who make things happen did a great job. Right now Your Mom is feeling pretty good about ourselves but I fear we are about to get another education. This Sunday we travel to the Lou to take on the Gatekeepers of Saint Louis. I have watched a fair bit of video and they look to be great skaters and well organized. I am sure that win or lose, we will come away as much better players. Our end goal is to get MRDA certified and qualify to play in the National Championship. I am sure we would not win such a big event but certainly like Butler or TCU, we could be a Mid Major surprise to someone and be competitive in most games we play. We are currently looking for games to play so if you know of any teams looking give me a shout. We have three different venues to play at and finding a suitable time is super easy with our facilities so give me a shout and let’s play some derby.

Your Mom Versus TC Terrors in St Paul, MN

It has been about 48 hours since our most recent roller derby bout and once again I am here to assure everyone….it is no joke. My neck is so sore I can only look straight ahead and my chest still feels like it has a 50 pound bag on top of it. This morning my wife asked me why I looked so skinny and I told her that since I have started playing derby, I am too sore to lift weights at the gym. The more I play, the stronger I will need to be but the more I play the more I am too injured to work out. I am like a running back in football that’s career is dependant on them bringing another running back in to share the carries with. Enough with my whining, How about I tell you a little bit about the game?

The Twin City Terrors play at the Armory in downtown St Paul in the shadows of the state capital building which gives the venue an important and regal feeling. The floor was polished cement (somewhat slippery) with a few tape jobs around it covering up cracks and outlets. This was not an official bout, but a highly organized scrimmage so the event was closed to the public. The track was laid out in tape instead of rope which was not ideal because staying in bounds is part of the game and agility helps you to do that. We only had 10 players suited up for the game as one was still injured from the Kornstalkers, one was sick and another didn’t make the trip. It was going to be a lot of skating for those that showed up and even more so eventually.

First jam started with Dante as the jammer, Jason, Talynn, James and I as blockers. Within the first lap Dante was called for a major, then Lap 2 and 3 sent Jason then Talynn and then me to the box. I was sent back out because the box was too full (serve a double later) and then got sent immediately back in for an elbow. I was unable to play jammer for the first 6 jams because I was always in the penalty box or the jammer was in the box so it could not be switched. We were getting called for everything you could imagine. We were cutting the track, elbowing, illegal procedure, back block, low block, blocking out of play, etc the list goes on. It was as if someone decided they were going to show us all of the different ways we could get sent to the box (little did they know I can always invent new ways). As I was waiting on the bench after my forth major, I said to the coaches that I could not play blocker for the rest of the half as I had too many penalties and was going to foul out (you are allowed 7) we had nearly 17 minutes left in the first half and still had another 30 minutes in the second. They decided to play me at jammer only and I had to walk around on egg shells the rest of the game to not get fouled out.

At one point in the first half we were trailing by 50 plus points. We were slowly able to work our way back into the game and take a near 10 point lead at halftime. The bad news was our best player (obviously) Dante, had fouled out with 8 minutes left in the first half and so he was done for the game. Jason, Talynn and I were all very close to fouling out as well and the team was limited in numbers. The other guys on the squad knew they would have to play more then normal and that we would all have to play new positions. We grew together as a team because of the adversity but I think we may have over extended ourselves trying to over compensate. To lose a player is a big deal….to lose Dante is a deal breaker.

For the second half I had three main objectives. I had to be the jammer every other time which considering we run a four man pattern normally shows you how exhausted I would be. Secondly, my goal was to stay out of foul trouble because I wanted to play to the end. Lastly, I wanted to reserve myself early and just keep the game close enough to give ourselves a chance in the end. Jamming every other time was tough but if I could win lead jammer and control the points scored by the other team, I could milk the full 2 minutes off of the clock and keep the other team from making up any ground. It worked well for the most part as with 7 minutes to go we still had an 8 point lead.

During the second half the other team changed tactics as well. I was hit (cleanly) about as hard as I have ever been hit on one of my jams and was forced to call it off early. On another jam, after I called the jam off on one side of the floor (noted by the numerous referee whistles) and was skating casually with my hands on my waist on the other side of the floor, a player from the other team cold cocked me off of my feat. As I stayed on the ground catching my wits, the medics came out to tend to me. After a few minutes I popped up and said to one of the officials “that’s ###### up” to which I was given a major penalty. Let me spell this out for all of you people who might play derby in Minnesota. You are allowed to hit anyone that you want on the other team, in play or out of play, during game play or not during game play and you will get a 1 minute penalty. Makes sense to take a run at me after the play doesn’t it? I am sorry but that is a no class thing to do and should be subjected to a much higher form of penalty. Meanwhile, I now am even closer to fouling out. By the way, on both of those hits, I was very thankful for my super bulky hockey mouth guard as it was able to help with any impact I would have taken.

We still had a shot but now Jason and Talynn had joined Dante on the list of disqualified from the game players (the other team had none). The guys on our squad were doing great holding the score together and giving us a legitimate shot to win. I was set up to take the 3^rd to last and final jam and we were in a close game. It was set up nicely for us. On the third to last jam I get lead jammer and am going around the track. The jammer from the other team tries to pass me randomly on the straight away and runs over my back sending me out of bounds and to the wall….no penalty,  so I call off the jam. They score a handful of points on the next jam so 2 minutes left and I am back up to jam. My team helps me navigate through the pack and again I am lead jammer. The other team’s jammer is right behind me trying to follow my path. I leave a small window (bait) to the inside and he takes it. I drop my shoulder and he goes inside the track and stumbles and skate slides on one knee back out on the track in front of me. I hear the whistle and think “finally they are getting called for something”. Then the lead Jam official says to me “#3 (my number)  illegal procedure, mouth piece violation” and the other guy gets up with no penalty and I have fouled out of the game. My mouth piece is in fact in my mouth, it is just really bulky. The other team races around the track putting up in your face points and we go home with our first loss.

It was great of the Terror to invite us up to play and as an experienced Derby team they had nothing to gain and everything to lose by playing us. I am thankful for seeing the way they work as a team controlling the pack and the speeds. The warm up exercises that they were doing were unique and beneficial and something that we will need to implement into our regimen. The city of St Paul is always great and the venue could not have been located in any more of a perfect spot. The skaters from the Terrors were way better then I expected and much better then I have watched on youtube. The coaches knew game strategy and what was happening and brought the team together in a way that showed team work will always prevail over athletes unorganized. It was great that so many officials donated time and effort to officiate a game that they were not getting anything out of and that they even cared enough to make any calls at all. My prayers go out to one of the Terrors who broke his jaw during the match but he was A tough kid….I know he will bounce back quickly. I hope we get a chance to play them again, either at the Armory in St Paul or here in Des Moines. You can only get better by playing better competition and I am sure both teams feel like they saw some things they could learn from.